The new €6.8bn Ireland Strategic Investment Fund could effectively double in value with the addition of third party capital investment, its managers said yesterday.

The NTMA raised €7.5bn last year and invested €1.3bn in the economy through the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), according to its end-of-year statement.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) is set to market about €600m in private-equity funds as it redirects investments to benefit the economy, three sources have said.

The Government, via the National Pension Reserve Fund, is making available €850m to small businesses through three new funds in an effort to fill the gap in the market by banks exiting the country.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund is developing a range of support funds in partnership with third-party investors — ranging in size from €100m to €400m — for the SME sector.

Irish hotels are nearly €7bn in debt and need to write off €2.5bn of this burden if the sector is to stay viable, warns a report by a former government adviser.

The Chief Executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) John Corrigan today set out a roadmap for Ireland’s phased re-entry to the international bond markets over the coming 18 months.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund and Silicon Valley Bank have entered an agreement that will see €79 million invested in the Irish technology scene.

A US bank has unveiled plans to lend $100m (€79m) to Ireland's innovation sector.

The Irish Infrastructure Fund has completed its first investment in the renewable sector by acquiring majority interest in the portfolio of wind farms from Viridian Group for an undisclosed fee.

Outrage over why householders will have to pay back a Government “slush fund” for the cost of having water meters imposed on them despite bailed-out bankers being “let off” by the same institution erupted in the Dáil.

US venture capitalists are expected to make significant investments in the economy after a €60m round of funding was unveiled in San Francisco yesterday by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton.

The National Pension Reserve Fund hired Goodbody Stockbrokers to establish that investors are applying an “inappropriate” €66 billion value on state-owned Allied Irish Banks Plc.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has confirmed that the Central Bank last year paid €29.9m in fees to consultants for their work in the banking crisis.

IRELAND’s national debt stood at €119.1 billion at the end of 2011 — up from €93.4bn a year earlier.

IT is not too late to avert a full-scale pensions crisis, Goodbody Stockbrokers has said, but any recovery depends on swift action by the Government in the coming months.

THE state has written off about half of its investments pumped into the two country’s main banks, leading to potential losses of nearly €10 billion.

THE Government has announced a new body to manage its shareholdings in semi-state companies and consider the sale of those stakes.

IRELAND is, as Captain Boyle said, in a “state of chassis”.

Intrinsic share values of state companies have been systematically pillaged by management and employees.

THE nationalisation of AIB has been approved by the bank’s shareholders, despite opposition from the floor at its EGM in Dublin yesterday.

THE value of the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) fell 5.3% — €1.2 billion — in the first four months of the year, with the losses arising from Government-directed investments in AIB and Bank of Ireland.

THE senior bondholders were left unburned, but Michael Noonan knows his reputation will soon go up in flames if it turns out he has failed the stress test.

BANK OF IRELAND has said that its deposit levels have stabilised over the past couple of months, but it expects operating profits for 2010 to show a 25%-30% drop due to an increase in funding costs.

The Labour party’s enterprise document pledges €500m to create jobs, but puts emphasis on task forces rather than strategy, writes Tom O’Connor

BANK of Ireland is being linked to a further debt buy-back exercise — that could raise hundreds of millions of euro — as part of its ongoing attempts to meet its necessary re-funding targets by the end of next month.

THE National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) is being raided again by the Government.

SINN FÉIN leader Gerry Adams told voters in Cork yesterday “there has never been a more necessary time for genuine republican politics” in Ireland as he accused Fianna Fáil leadership “of re-colonising this part of the country”.

THE Government could face a legal challenge over its attempt to use €17.5 billion of the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) to refinance the banking system.

It’s the €85bn question: Will the bailout get us out of the mire? Five economists give their assessment.

THE vast majority of Ireland’s €17.9 billion-strong National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) will be used to bail out the banks.

An €85bn bail-out for the Government from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Europe has been agreed, head of eurozone ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said tonight.

ATLANTIC Bridge (ABVEN), has raised €85 million in funding for technology focused companies.

Rather than using expert knowledge to sign our death warrant, those who create ideas in Ireland should be given the means to move forward, writes Tom O’Connor.

IT seems to me most economic pundits have got it wrong. In the absence of growth (and there seems little prospect of significant growth in the short term), Ireland Inc has to reach a budget surplus in order to begin to pay off the national debt.

UP to €40 million in venture capital funding is poised to be pumped into Irish businesses through a number of funds.

Ireland can use Finland as a role model to recover from recession and the banking crisis, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said tonight.

The use of innovation as an engine for growth and jobs was the focus of bilateral talks between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his Finnish counterpart today.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) has announced that it will commit €30m to two venture capital funds in support of Innovation Fund Ireland.

THE tax take continued to slump by €1.4bn in the first five months of the year, but new Exchequer figures show the situation is beginning to stabilise.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has welcomed the positive vote by Bank of Ireland shareholders in support for the group’s capital raising.

THE Government could acquire an 18% stake in AIB today as the deadline arrives for the payment of €280 million that is due.

BANK of Ireland and AIB both saw their shares plunge yesterday despite analysts saying there are a number of positives from having the Government as a stakeholder.

THE new head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), John Corrigan, has said the first repayments due from the banks, related to the Government’s €7 billion recapitalisation, will not be made on time.